Positive Letters

THE issue of zoning: to be or not to be, is now being taken away from the discussion or debate level. The two sides to the dispute: the South-South and the conservative section of the Northern political class, are now sabre-rattling. They are mobilising their instruments of intimidation with a view to coercing the nation to succumb to their respective demands.

Why not allow the law to take its course while you go about your job of restoring the broken financial system?We can do with a little more maturity while rebuilding public confidence in the banking sector

President Umaru Musa Yarâ€™Adua is reported to be getting better by the day, thank God, and we are told that he will return to Nigeria this week, and/or we will hear him broadcast to the nation before the week runs out.

One thing became indisputably clear [as the din increased as to whether Mr. President was alive or not; whether he had formally handed over to his deputy, Vice President Goodluck Jonathan or not; and whether the VP was under pressures to resign or not]; and that is that the political elite in Nigeria must hold the common Nigerian in great contempt, and so they deem us, at best, worthy of no more than to be treated as mindless buffoons who must swallow whatever the leaders vomit.

We join millions of Nigerians in hailing your courageous and peace-encouraging decision to meet, last Saturday, with the MEND-appointed Aaron Team led by Admiral Okhai Mike Akhigbe, and comprising distinguished Nigerians like Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, retired military strategist, General Luke Kakadu Aprezi and Architect Denzil Amagbe Kentebe.

Dear Fellow-Nigerians,President Umoru Musa Yarâ€™Adua may go down in history as the just Pharaoh that â€œfacilitatedâ€ the emancipation of the Niger Delta [something the Balewas, Babangidas, Abachas, and Obasanjos tried, in vain, to achieve] by simply listening to the true representatives of the regionâ€™s peoples and having the political courage to address the fundamental challenges of the regionâ€¦or, at least, that is what we are all praying that he doesâ€¦if the hawks in his kitchen cabinet will let him!

Dear President Yarâ€™Adua,
This writer broke his writing-milk-teeth working with a little-sung icon of the Nigerian press, Christopher Maduaburochukwu Okolie; the young man who dared to import classy full-colour gloss into the realm of Nigerian media (which was hitherto dominated by the â€œdrearyâ€ but popular Spear and Drum magazines) with his revolutionary â€œNEWBREEDâ€ magazine (with the delectable Ms. Gloria Rhodes gracing its debut 1972 cover).

Prince Tonye Princewill is a personable young man that has the ability to charm people even when he is telling them bitter truths, as all other members of President Umoru YarAduaâ€™s Niger Delta Technical Committee, on which he served, learntâ€¦sometimes to their chagrin

Dear Fellow Nigerians,
At a recently concluded socio-cultural event in Odi, Bayelsa State, Dr Timiebi Koripamo-Agary, who is one of the most trusted, most seasoned and most professional federal civil servants, and who is also a member of the Federal Government Committee on Amnesty and Rehabilitation, was quoted as saying: â€˜It is time now for those who have carried arms for whatever reason to drop them and embrace peace, so that real peace and development can come in for our people.

For instance, the Ijaw territory was the center of commerce – renown for its trade in ivory, palm oil, and other natural resources. It was also a center of the African Atlantic slave trade. And for a period in its history, it had an independent diplomatic relations with European powers.

You are probably cursing being born into this nation-space called Nigeria; a land where truth is turned on its head and even ministers of justice are at the forefront of promoting wholesale injustice with impunityâ€¦a land of the institutionalization of the twin evils of corruption and violence, even in the supposedly hallowed courts where God is worshipped, as we are daily reminded in the northâ€™s regular orgies of religious violence.

You are probably cursing being born into this nation_space called Nigeria; a land where truth is turned on its head and even ministers of justice are at the forefront of promoting wholesale injustice with impunityâ€¦a land of the institutionalization of the twin evils of corruption and violence, even in the supposedly hallowed courts where God is worshipped, as we are daily reminded in the northâ€™s regular orgies of religious violence.

Nobody faults Your Excellencyâ€™s chagrin at the Atlas Cove Jetty â€œaffrontâ€ and the resultant strong call on the Niger Delta armed groups not to bring â€œwarâ€ into your area of security -jurisdiction. As Chief Security Officer of Lagos State (though this is a mere empty appellation without the concomitant executive powers that you would have in a true federation!) you probably did not see how else you could justify the oath you took to serve the people of Lagos aright.